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Can't Do Rows

Greetings all.... Due to a rear delt injury, I cannot do any rowing or chinning movements for the back, but, I can do dead lifts and rack pulls. Will this be enough stimulation to keep the back/lats growing? I train with a 3 day split. I train back with delts and am thinking of doing 4-6 sets of heavy rack pulls in the 6-10 rep range. Any thoughts?? Thanks! BTW, I am 57 years old and cannot squat due to disc issues. Surprisingly I can still dead lift with no issues.

Thanks for your response. No, unfortunately I can't do chins or pulldowns anymore. I can do low cable rows, but I can only use a half range of motion without being able to bring the elbows back behind my body. Same goes for BB rows. DB rows are out of the question. Thanks again...

Is your injury expected to heal or is this a permanent condition?
If it will heal, Id say take it easy and don't risk further damage.
If permanent I'm not sure what to tell you without seeing it firsthand and watching your movements and ROM.

Have you tried doing any mid-back shrugs? I seem to be missing the name for it right now, but it's where you lay on an incline bench face down and shrug dumbells rearward to thicken the mid back a bit. It's not a row. No rearward motion of the elbows/arms so it shouldn't involve much delt at all, just Lats, rhomboids, traps. I don't really have any other ideas for you ATM

edit: I've also done a variation of this with the cable row shrugging instead of rowing when I was really trying to pump up that mid-upper back. If you lean back a little more it'll hit more rhomboid and trap than Lats. You might find an angle that works for you

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Originally Posted by newhampshire

Greetings all.... Due to a rear delt injury, I cannot do any rowing or chinning movements for the back, but, I can do dead lifts and rack pulls. Will this be enough stimulation to keep the back/lats growing? I train with a 3 day split. I train back with delts and am thinking of doing 4-6 sets of heavy rack pulls in the 6-10 rep range. Any thoughts?? Thanks! BTW, I am 57 years old and cannot squat due to disc issues. Surprisingly I can still dead lift with no issues.

Of course Deadlifts work the last... They "hit" every muscle in the body. Look at where they attach. They may not concentrically and ecentrically contract but they sure as hell are isometrically contracting.
The human body moves in patterns that involve every muscle in one way or another. This concept of isolating muscles is crazy. We can target muscles more effectively with different movements but isolation is impossible.
Squats, bench presses, push-ups, military presses all use the lats. Don't worry, your not gonna shrink over night. I'd be more concerned with the injury leading to other injuries by trying to "work around" or through injuries. If you cannot row and the shoulder feels unstable, you'd better have a good PT, athletic trainer, or very reputable trainer who works with athletic injuries and corrective exercise. A good ART and/or NKT practitioner would be great. Good luck.